People Live Here

by George F. Walker

  VIOLET: He said that?

  MADDY: All the time. He said you were out of your mind. You said he was a murderer. Yeah. Those were fun times all right. And now this! Uncle Leo’s a prisoner. And I’m actually helping you keep him that way. All because you’ve told me things I don’t completely understand. Unless I do. Unless I do actually understand everything you say in some deeply disturbed way because I’m totally like you. Yeah. I must be. (starting out) Oh my God …

  VIOLET: No, it’s okay.

  MADDY: Is it? Because it doesn’t feel okay. Not really.

  MADDY leaves.

  VIOLET: (shouting down the hall) Don’t worry, dear. It could be just a phase.

  Blackout.

  SCENE 7

  MADDY is on the floor searching through a printout of a Lithuanian–English dictionary. VIOLET is on the couch behind her, massaging MADDY’s shoulders.

  VIOLET: Both my parents had died that year and I was desperately searching for a little joy in my life. Just the kind of person a sociopath targets. The first sign that I was in trouble was when he started voicing his views about immigrants. He was brutal and unforgiving about all their trouble with the language. I tried to point out that his parents were in exactly the same shape when they came over. “I know,” was his reply, “and that’s why I hated being around them.” His father was very ill at this time, and neither of his sons wanted anything to do with him. I’d help his mother when I could, but being the wife of an evil sonofabitch can have an effect on you. Then you came along and that helped for a while. No way was I going to become completely mentally incapacitated when I had a child to care for. Anyway …

  MADDY: There’s a title for this diary, The Troubling Story of Henrikus and Leonas. Leonas is Uncle Leo, right?

  VIOLET: Yes. And Henrikus was your father.

  MADDY: He changed it to Keith?

  VIOLET: No, he just started asking people to call him that at some point.

  MADDY: Did he give any reason?

  VIOLET: He never explained any of the strange things he did. Like putting pepper on grapefruit, or drawing pictures of rats.

  MADDY: What?

  VIOLET: I have nothing to add about that. (pointing) Try to translate that opening paragraph.

  MADDY: Okay. But it’ll take some time.

  VIOLET: It’s important. I might have to use it as evidence. If I can put Leo in prison for the rest of his life, I’m hopeful that my mental state will improve.

  MADDY: You seem better today. You took your medication?

  VIOLET: Only half. It helps me achieve a degree of clarity. But it makes me lose touch with my true self.

  MADDY: Okay. But what is that, Mum? Your true self. I mean, really.

  VIOLET: Hard to describe. But it includes a vibrant inner life.

  MADDY kisses VIOLET’s hand which rests on her shoulder.

  MADDY: I love you.

  VIOLET: Do you? Still?

  MADDY: Yes. I love you. Even when you’re not sharing your vibrant inner life with me.

  VIOLET: What a nice thing to say.

  VIOLET kisses the top of MADDY’s head. A loud groaning is heard coming from the bedroom.

  MADDY: I guess he woke up.

  VIOLET: Yeah.

  VIOLET takes the butter from the kitchen table. She puts her hand in it, takes a fistful, and heads for the bedroom.

  VIOLET: This should keep him quiet for a while.

  MADDY: Mum …

  VIOLET: What, dear?

  MADDY: (looking at her) Never mind.

  VIOLET continues into the bedroom.

  MADDY: We’ll just deal with it somehow.

  Blackout.

  SCENE 8

  As CATHY comes into the apartment, MADDY hurries to put the diaries back in the box.

  CATHY: Family stuff?

  MADDY: Yeah.

  CATHY: Letters? Photos?

  MADDY: Some. Yeah.

  CATHY: Could I have a look?

  MADDY: Now?

  CATHY: Why not now?

  MADDY: Well, now is just … now. What about … a future now? I mean, that now could be better, right?

  CATHY: Sure, whatever. Anyway it’s good that you’re getting her to reconnect to things.

  MADDY: Well, here’s hoping.

  CATHY: And it’s great that you’re seeing her more.

  MADDY: Yeah.

  CATHY: She missed you.

  MADDY: I know. But it couldn’t be helped. I needed some time on my own. In the desert.

  CATHY: Which desert?

  MADDY: (an outburst) Why is that any of your fucking business?! Sorry! There it was again.

  CATHY looks at her.

  CATHY: How long were you in therapy?

  MADDY: No, I was never in –

  CATHY: Oh. It’s just that I was in court when the judge strongly suggested that you talk to someone.

  MADDY: Yeah. Well, my husband was still listening to me at the time. And he has quite a few creepy men in his family.

  CATHY: None like your father though?

  MADDY: No. My father was a special kind of guy.

  CATHY: So you still think your mum was right about him?

  MADDY: I always try hard to lean in that direction, yeah.

  CATHY: Even in light of her condition?

  MADDY: It’s been a struggle. And sometimes I need to challenge her about it. But well … her condition was caused by her knowing what he did, right?

  CATHY: Not according to people at the school where she worked. They thought she was on the verge of a –

  MADDY: That was just stress. She thought she was letting her students down. Look, the truth is, what I saw of my father’s behaviour means I don’t have that big a problem believing he was a cold-hearted killer.

  CATHY: You’d seen him hurt people?

  MADDY: Yeah.

  CATHY: Did he hurt you?

  MADDY: I got pinned to a wall a couple of times. I was never his main target though.

  CATHY: Are you saying that was Violet?

  MADDY: If he had ever hit my mother, I’d have killed him myself. It was Leo he liked to abuse. Ever since they were kids.

  CATHY: And you heard that from your mother?

  MADDY: It was a well-known fact in the neighbourhood. No one ever tried to stop it because they loved ugly, cruel shit like that around there. Not all of them, but there were a lot of mean people. Older men for sure. I think they were upset about missing the party.

  CATHY: What party?

  MADDY: You know, all the butchering they could have done back in their homelands. Eastern European countries were full of Nazis. Per capita, almost as many Germany. At least that’s what my dad said. And he said it with a lot of pride too.

  A noise from the bedroom.

  CATHY: Should we look in on her?

  MADDY: No, she’s okay. Those pills just knock her out.

  CATHY: She’ll get used to them. If she keeps taking them every day they’ll help her function.

  MADDY: Well, I’ll try to make sure she does. But she can be pretty stubborn.

  CATHY: And sneaky. You know, we can manage this. I’m sure it doesn’t seem that way now, but –

  MADDY: I believe you. I just think it would help if you started believing her about my father and his brother.

  VIOLET comes out of the bedroom, carrying the dish of butter.

  VIOLET: I’ll second that opinion.

  CATHY: Hi there.

  MADDY: Had a good nap?

  VIOLET: I dreamed of a somewhat better world.

  CATHY: Really. What was it like?

  VIOLET: The air was a little cleaner. But not all the bad people were gone.

  CATHY: What’s the butter for?

  VIOLET: I … put it on my …

  MADDY: Her … eyelids …

  VIOLET: Yes, on my eyelids before –

  MADDY: She –

  VIOLET and

  MADDY: Goes to sleep.

  VIOLET: I find it relaxing.

  CA
THY: (a bit suspicious) Really? I’ll have to try that.

  VIOLET: (about to hand her the butter) You can take this.

  MADDY: (intervening) Come on, Mum. I’m sure she’s got her own butter at home.

  VIOLET: Not like this.

  CATHY: I’m sorry?

  MADDY: (taking the butter) She means it’s … Danish. The best butter there is. Right, Mum?

  VIOLET: Sure. (to CATHY) She has very strong opinions about food products.

  CATHY: Well she is a chef.

  MADDY: Was a chef.

  CATHY: Oh. What are you now?

  MADDY: An unemployed chef.

  CATHY: So what happened?

  MADDY: I got tired of being yelled at. The head chef was one of those bad people the world hasn’t gotten rid of yet.

  VIOLET: You didn’t stab him, did you? You know our agreement about that. Just count to ten.

  MADDY: (big smile) It doesn’t always work.

  CATHY: Does that mean you did stab him?

  MADDY: No. I was just –

  A commotion in the bedroom.

  VIOLET: Excuse me. Something must have fallen off a shelf.

  She takes the butter from MADDY and goes into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

  CATHY: Why did she take the butter in there with her?

  MADDY: Habit?

  LEO screams from the bedroom.

  CATHY: Was that her?

  MADDY: Who else could it be?

  CATHY: Good question.

  CATHY heads for the bedroom door.

  MADDY: Cathy …

  But she is already on her way in. MADDY just lowers her head.

  MADDY: Jesus …

  Blackout.

  SCENE 9

  LEO is on the couch, still a bit groggy. CATHY is wiping his face with a damp cloth. MADDY is bringing LEO a glass of water from the kitchen. VIOLET is standing near LEO, watching him intently.

  VIOLET: (to LEO) Ready to talk?

  LEO: Go to hell.

  VIOLET: Just checking.

  CATHY: What made you think you’d get away with this?

  VIOLET: I’m crazy. I can get away with almost anything.

  CATHY: That’s actually not true.

  LEO: Right. Who are you, anyway? You sound like someone official.

  CATHY: I am.

  LEO: Good. Well here’s a couple of questions for you, then. How come she’s not still put away somewhere? How come she’s allowed to be on the loose like this?

  VIOLET: (to CATHY) Yeah, I thought they were taking quite a risk myself.

  MADDY: Me too. Sorry, Mum. (to CATHY) She just needed to find out.

  CATHY: Find out what exactly? If she was still capable of doing something this reckless?

  VIOLET: You make it sound so petty. (to MADDY) You’ll have to be more specific.

  MADDY: She needed to know for sure if he wasn’t actually involved in those murders.

  CATHY: And?

  VIOLET: And what?

  CATHY: And … is he? Did he admit to that?!

  VIOLET: Well, he’s a pretty stubborn guy. At first I wanted to waterboard him. But the farther we got into the diary the more pity I felt for him.

  CATHY: What diary?

  MADDY: His mother kept a record of their lives. His and my father’s.

  VIOLET: It’s ugly stuff.

  MADDY: Yeah, we’ve been reading it.

  LEO: Whaddya mean, reading it? I told you, she couldn’t write English.

  MADDY: We translated it.

  VIOLET: The original is in his native tongue.

  LEO: I don’t have a fucking native tongue.

  VIOLET: You did. Your fucking native tongue was Lithuanian. You spoke it for the first three years of your life. It’s in the diary.

  LEO: In the diary?! In Lithuanian?!! And you fucking translated it?!!

  VIOLET: Jeez. Calm down, man. You’re going to have a stroke.

  MADDY: We’re still at it. We downloaded a dictionary. And it’s slow going, but –

  VIOLET: But we already know a lot about how your brother treated you.

  LEO: You mean that he was a little rough on me sometimes? That was just brother stuff.

  MADDY: According to Nanna he put you in the hospital twice. They thought for a while that Grampa was responsible.

  LEO: That sad little man? Jesus. If I’d heard anyone talking crap like that … (crying) I loved my pop. And he loved me.

  VIOLET: Then why didn’t he protect you from Keith? And didn’t I advise you about crying? It’s not going to help.

  LEO: (trying to stop crying) Okay … but it’s upsetting … All these … lies … and things you’re telling me.

  VIOLET: It’s all in the diary, Leo. Keith beat you up repeatedly. And you were terrified of him.

  LEO: Just when we were kids, for Chrissake. That all stopped when we grew up.

  VIOLET: We don’t think that’s true.

  MADDY: We think Keith never stopped pushing you around.

  VIOLET: You’re a victim of domestic violence, Leo.

  LEO: What? Fuck off.

  MADDY: You were traumatized and defenceless, Uncle Leo.

  VIOLET: And that’s why you kept doing everything he told you to do. Even when he told you to help him kill all those people.

  LEO: That’s not fucking true!

  VIOLET: Yes, it fucking is!

  CATHY: Okay, okay! Let’s just all –

  LEO: (to CATHY) I want you to inform the authorities about what she’s done to me here. (crying) Talk about being traumatized and defenceless …

  CATHY: I can’t do that.

  LEO: (still crying) Why not?!

  CATHY: Because my job is to assist in her journey back to good mental health. And that wouldn’t help.

  VIOLET: She means I’m on to something.

  LEO: Fuck it. (standing) I’ll do it myself then.

  MADDY: That’d probably be a mistake. She’s got proof now.

  LEO: Proof of what? Jesus. Come on.

  VIOLET: Sit down.

  LEO: Look, don’t tell me what to do, okay? I’m tired of you asking me questions. I’m tired of you assuming things. And I’m tired of you telling me what the fuck to do. Like to just piss my pants … or suck on butter. Or –

  CATHY: Suck on butter?

  MADDY: We can leave the butter out of it, okay?

  VIOLET: Leo.

  LEO: What?

  VIOLET: Sit down. I mean it. We need to resolve this matter right here. Right now. I’ve got all these things happening in my head. All these thoughts, memories, suspicions. And lots of voices telling me what to think about all those things. I need it all to go away. I need to silence the voices of suspicion.

  LEO sits.

  LEO: (to CATHY) She’s been talking like that to me for two whole days … that “voices of suspicion” crap. It makes me want to rip my ears off. Can you please, please make her stop?

  CATHY: No. But maybe you can.

  MADDY: Just tell her she was right about what my dad did. All those killings.

  VIOLET: The old couple in the bakery. That woman lawyer. The entire family down the street. Their son was one of my students. Did you know that?

  LEO: (quietly) No …

  MADDY: What?

  LEO: No. I didn’t … know that. (to VIOLET) I’m sorry …

  VIOLET: Killing that boy was the thing that set me off. (to CATHY) I blew Keith away a week after that happened.

  CATHY: You knew he’d done it?

  VIOLET: I asked him.

  CATHY: And he admitted it?

  VIOLET: No. But he didn’t deny it.

  LEO: I’m sorry.

  VIOLET: Yeah, you said that.

  LEO: That was supposed to be just the father. He owed someone a lot of money. But the family, that boy … I never drove Keith after that. I mean, I wouldn’t have … even if you hadn’t killed him.

  MADDY: And that’s all you did for him, drive?

  LEO: Yeah. And it was bullshit. He didn’t need a
getaway car. He was really good at it. He could usually just walk away quietly afterwards and no one woulda been the wiser.

  CATHY: Sounds like he just wanted you to be involved.

  LEO: Maybe. Keep me on a leash? That kind of thing?

  CATHY: Yes. That kind of thing.

  LEO: Okay. Okay then. So … that’s that, right?

  LEO starts out, then stops.

  LEO: (to VIOLET) I feel better telling you. It’s been a real hardship to keep it to myself. By the way, I won’t do so good in prison. I didn’t do that good the first time, and this would be worse.

  VIOLET: I know.

  LEO: I never did any killing. Honest.

  VIOLET: I know.

  LEO: Good. Okay then. (looking at them all) So … if it’s okay with everyone, I’ll just …

  LEO leaves.

  CATHY: Pathetic.

  MADDY: You mean him? Yeah … How does this affect her situation?

  CATHY: You mean with the law? I haven’t got a clue. And as far as her mental state is concerned …

  MADDY: We’ll just have to see if this helps?

  CATHY: You mean the bit of clarity he provided her? Yes.

  CATHY looks at VIOLET.

  CATHY: Maddy, we need to talk about her medication and a few other things.

  VIOLET: Not in front of me, you don’t. I’ve heard enough about my “treatment” and my situation to last a lifetime.

  CATHY: (to MADDY) In the bedroom then?

  MADDY: Sure.

  CATHY and MADDY head for the bedroom.

  VIOLET: Thank you.

  CATHY: You’re welcome.

  VIOLET is just sitting there.

  VIOLET: (to herself) Silence. How about that. (touching her temple) Even in here … (smiling) it’s been awhile.

  Blackout.

  SCENE 10

  Darkness. The building’s fire alarm goes off.

  Light.

  VIOLET is on the couch, rocking back and forth, and covering her ears.